


The Crow's Daughter

by Vyranai



Category: Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst and Feels, F/M, Inej ran away, Oneshot, and Kaz finds her, only she has a surprise for him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-07
Updated: 2018-07-07
Packaged: 2019-06-06 21:28:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15203852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vyranai/pseuds/Vyranai
Summary: No matter how far she runs, he always finds her.





	The Crow's Daughter

**Author's Note:**

> Another Leigh Bardugo oneshot found deep in my old Google Docs from 2015/2016. The working title for this was "Six of Even More Pain." *laughs and cries at the same time.*

Every time Inej had allowed herself to entertain the idea of falling in love again while out on a date, something would happen to make her rethink that. The first time, the man simply stopped talking to her after the second date. The next did exactly the same thing, ignoring her nervous phone calls and messages. Inej had liked the second one, too. He had been kind, the type of man that she knew she needed. But he never came back.

    The third and fourth did exactly the same. The fifth one even blocked her number. 

_ It's hopeless,  _ she had thought on too many occasions, both angry and upset. It was ridiculous.  _ Utterly hopeless. No one wants you, and why should they?  _

__ She gave up after number five, content to spend her days alone, though the mere thought tore at her heart with razor sharp claws. No one should have to spend the rest of their days alone. Not even a wraith like her.

     There was nothing remarkable about that day at the time. Inej had woken up at seven when her alarm blared and gone downstairs to make breakfast. Marena had joined her half an hour later, attracted by the smell of toast and bacon. Then Inej had readied Marena for school, driving the girl to the gates and dropping her off with a swift kiss to the cheek in farewell. After that, she had headed towards the other side of the city where the studio lay and her students would be waiting for her. 

    Work had been easy that day, yet still Inej had pulled a muscle on the ropes. It was rare, but it happened. She didn't mention it to Marena when she picked her up, all smiles and cheerfulness. But when Inej got home and Marena was shooed upstairs to work on homework, she collapsed onto the sofa and sighed.

    Long had she dreamed of having a normal and repetitive life, but now that she had it, she missed the days gone by. She missed the adrenaline rushes, the close calls and the company that the job came with. Yes, she was needed now, but for a very different reason. Though she prayed to her saints every night that the past never resurfaced. For Marena's sake, not her own. 

    Unease swirled deep in the pit of Inej's stomach as she recalled the previous day's headline news; five figures had broken into a high security vault in the middle of the city. And what was more, they had gotten away with it. No money had been taken, just codes. Codes to more vaults and weapons that could level an entire country if they fell into the wrong hands. Inej had no idea who had been hit, but she had her suspicions. And her suspicions were usually correct. Especially when _ he  _ was most likely involved.

    It was just after Marena went to sleep that Inej heard the soft thumps from upstairs. Fear lanced through her at the thought of intruder. She'd be able to despatch them easily enough, but what would happen to Marena if she was locked up for manslaughter?

    Inej drew two carving knives from their post. They were big and clumsy and she wasn't as skilled anymore, but they'd do. If anything, they would cause the intruder to think twice. She missed her own blades, but she'd left them behind by accident. 

_ If they touched Marena.... _

__ "Mommy?"

   Inej breathed a such sigh of relief and returned the knives. "Mare, why are you awake? You have school tomorrow."

    "I knocked the water over," Marena said glumly from the top of the stairs. "I'm thirsty."

   "Just refill it in the bathroom. The water is safe to drink."

    "But-?"

    Inej didn't want her to see just how antsy she was still feeling. Even after all these years she reacted instantaneously. "Mare, please."

    "I'll die painfully from poison."

    "No you won't." Such dramatics. 

    Marena left, though she didn't go quietly. She was no doubt after the last glass of chocolate milk in the refrigerator, but Inej was onto her tricks. After all, she had learned from the best.

    It was as Inej was walking into the living room, wondering what drivel would be on TV that the knock sounded upon the door. She stopped dead, then glanced up at the time -- it was far too late for house calls. But what monster knocked on the front door? Unless it was the greatest monster of them all... 

    She wished that she had her old blades handy when she cracked open the door, the chain pulling taut.

    Immediately she slammed it shut again and locked it for good reason.

   Why now? After all this time? Inej took a deep and shaking breath to calm herself. It worked, though barely. One more minute and she cracked open the door once more. "You."

    He had changed, though not drastically; no longer were the sides of his head shaved, but black and gleaming, smoothed back away from his face. Even now he was nothing more than hard lines and sharp edges. If looks could kill...

     Inej noted immediately that the gloves were back. She hated herself for the disappointment that she felt. He had made such progress...

     He tipped the rim of his hat towards her very slightly. "Inej," was all he said, and she couldn't discern what that tone of voice meant. It wasn't hostile at any rate. But then, he didn't have to _ sound _ hostile to be a monster. 

    "When I expected you to come for me at last, I thought you'd at least come through the window. Or maybe pick the back door. Not knock like some welcomed guest."  _ Marena,  _ her mind kept screaming at her.  _ He can't come in. He won't come in. _

    "I understand why you left."

    "No, you don't. You are incapable of caring in such a capacity." Inej made to close the door, but that wretched cane of his shot out from within the darkness and wedged itself in the gap. Inej glared. "Men like you never change. The Rollins vault has been hit, and are you going to try and convince me that it wasn't you and the others in your merry band?"

    "Yes, I hit it. Now open the door, Ghafa. It would be a pity and a waste to have to break it." He reached into the depths of his wool coat and drew out two short blades that Inej knew well. She just stared when he held them out towards her hilt first.

    Inej didn't take them or even touch them. "I know your tricks and I won't fall for it."

    "No tricks. No illusions of any kind. They belong with you and only you."

    Kaz Brekker didn't give gifts. Not unless they benefited him in the long run. Though it pained her immensely, Inej still refused to take them.     

    "Fine." He tossed them into the bush next to the porch. "Collect them at your own pace."

    "Why are you here?" Inej asked, though she already knew why. The reason was fast asleep upstairs, he had said as much.

    "Can't I check up on an old friend without arousing suspicion?"

    "Not when that person is you."

    "You pitch a fair argument." He nodded towards the door. "Now let me in. You know as well as I that we have much to discuss. It's been nine years, after all."

    Inej's eyes narrowed very slightly. "Nine years was not enough, Kaz. Not enough." And she unhooked the chain and threw the door wide. He stepped over the threshold and inside and Inej closed the door with a soft _ snap.  _ She prayed silently to her saints that Marena didn't wake up and venture downstairs.

    "Five years of work," Inej said bitterly, her eyes fixed upon the black leather gloves. "Wasted."

    He raised both of his gloved hands and curled them into loose fists. Inej noted the tight line of his shoulder but he merely said "We both know that sometimes a man can be broken beyond repair. Even with your prayers and your absent Gods, this was inevitable."

    "Spare me the excuses. What business?" Inej took the armchair and crossed her ankles, staring up at the boy. But... he wasn't a boy anymore, but a man. He seemed to have grown taller and more muscular too. 

    Kaz had grown up, just like she had. Inej's nails dug into the arms of the chair, cursing herself and her traitorous thoughts. He hadn't just grown upwards, but more rough around the edges with a layer of dark stubble attempting to come through on his face. And Inej liked rough.

    "A business proposition," he told her. "I need my Wraith back. One last time."

    "No." Inej didn't even need to think about it first. Her mind was already made up. "I will never become the Wraith -- your Wraith -- again."

    "Do this and you have my word that you will never see me again. And no one will find out about you, or cause harm against you or... your daughter." Inej didn't miss the pause, the uncertainty in his voice. Kaz Brekker sounded almost... she must have been hearing things. Kaz was never uncertain. He was the most certain person she knew. 

    "No," Inej repeated. "Now what are you going to do? Threaten me until I give in?" She kept turning the words 'you will never see me again' over and over inside her head. Part of her rejoiced at the idea, but the other part felt nothing but intense sadness.

    "I don't suppose money would hold more sway?" He knew already that it wouldn't. Inej didn't bother replying and Kaz didn't repeat the question. Silence fell and he crossed over to the mantelpiece where the framed photos sat. Inej watched carefully as he set down his hat and plucked one of the silver framed photos up. The picture of Marena.

    "There's an account in her name," he said, setting it back down. "The missing millions from the New York hits is there. It's yours. Both of you," he added. 

    Inej bristled with anger. "You attached our names to your filthy blood money? Will you watch us fall when they trace it and find us?"

    "It's clean. And no one can trace it to you. Wylan Van Eck is more than just a pretty face these days." 

    "Wylan I don't have a problem with."

    "Just me."

    "Just you."

     He actually rolled his eyes and Inej scowled. "You have been keeping tabs on me, haven't you?" It was obvious. How else could he have found her so easily? 

    "If you wanted out, you should have just told me straight. Not slink away in the dead of night from my bed."

    Inej stifled a bitter laugh. "How? And did you even let me leave? Or have you been watching, waiting for when you needed me for help, to drag me back into your insane fight?"

    "Marena," he simply said. "You left because you were afraid. Of me."

    "No, not just because of you. But mainly because of you. Marena is not some pawn, and like hell I was going to let her become one of your weapons before she was even out of me."

    "I would never use my own daughter as a weapon."

    "Kaz, you'd use your own mother as a weapon."

    "Inej..." He sat down heavily upon the sofa, stretching out his bad leg. It only got worse as he got older. "I didn't come here to fight. I came here for your help. One last time."

    The audacity of him-! Inej couldn't quite believe it. Was he _ that  _ desperate? If anything, he was just shy of begging. "Never."

    He looked her up and down and Inej got the distinct feeling that she was being being x-rayed. "What?" She asked. 

    It took a moment for him to reply. "You haven't changed a bit."

   Inej's temper flared. "I see you haven't either. Still the same bastard you always were."

   Footsteps sounded on the stairs. "Mommy, who are you talking to?"

    "Move!" Inej hissed. 

    Kaz moved, but only to cross his ankles. "Mare, stay up there. I have a friend over." Hardly a friend. More like an unwelcome cockroach that kept crawling back in from the cold. But... part of her was ridiculously happy to see him once more, even if he'd come to turn her life upside down. Love was a blade and falling for him had cut her deep.

    She didn't listen, of course. Inej made to walk over to the stairs but a hand shot out and grabbed her arm. "No,' Inej said snapped. "No way."

    "I have every right."

    "You have no rights. At all. Get out before I call the police." She would never and he knew that. He called her bluff and Inej hissed like a feral cat when Kaz sidestepped her and made his way over to the stairs. 

    "Marena?" he asked and Inej watched him take in every inch of her from her burnt sugar skin to her eyes that were the same shade of grey as his own to her Minnie Mouse pyjamas. 

    "Yeah," the girl said, frowning deeply. "Who are you?"

    "A friend of your mother's."

    "Mom doesn't have any friends. Who are you?"

    "How do you know she has no friends?"

    A shrug. "Because mom doesn't like people. She says they suck. All her boyfriends run away like they're scared."

    Inej stilled. How had she picked up on so much? Inej had deliberately kept her far from it all as possible. But then... she was his daughter. It ran in the blood. Of course she was clever and more than a little devious. 

    "Mom said that my daddy was a bad man." She squinted at him. "You don't _ look _ bad though."

    "Marena, you don't have to look bad to be a bad person," he told her. "Your mother was right; I _ am  _ a bad man. The worst. I am the monster that the monsters in your closet are scared of."

    "Enough." Inej stepped between them, shoving Kaz away with her eyes blazing with fury. "Out. Out of my house, out of my life. Never darken my doorway again. Or hers."

    To her surprise, he merely tugged off a glove and tentatively reach out, brushing his fingers briefly across Marena's cheek. For a moment, Inej thought that she saw something behind those fathomless eyes, but it was gone when she glanced again. And then the glove was on once more and he was turning away. When the door snapped shut with a sense of finality, Inej just stood there. Reeling.

    She’d see him again. Eventually. Of that, she was certain. 


End file.
